Is Drug Testing Constitutional?

  Many court cases have already determined that drug testing should be allowed in schools. In Vernonia v. Acton, New Jersey v. T.L.O. and Board of Education v. Earls, the court has ruled that drug testing is not a large breach of privacy, and should therefore be allowed. I agree with these court decisions and am completely in favor of drug testing. Drug tests are used to benefit the students; they are important in order to detect and prevent drug use among students in high schools.
   Drug testing should be allowed for many reasons, but the main reason is that it is still constitutional. Some argue that it goes against the Fourth Amendment, but in reality, drug testing is really not an invasion of privacy. The steps that are taken to test the students are used in other situations, such as when someone goes for a doctor's checkup. The small breach of privacy is something that is neccessary in order to protect all students and allow them to feel safe in school. Schools have the responsibility to make sure that their students feel safe and protected, and drug use is something that prevents this feeling of comfort for most students. This shows the importance of drug testing, because the benefits of schools drug testing their athletes, or all students, outweight the costs.
   The Fourth Amendment still applies to students in schools, but some limitations must be put on their rights. For example when discussing searching procedures, the amendment states that a warrant is required before a search can take place. However, the Court has ruled that the requirement of a warrant is unnecessary in schools because it is unsuited to the learning enviornment. A warrant interfers with school procedures. This shows that some rights must be limited due to the enviornment-in this case, it is a school. For this reason, drug testing is appropriate and can be considered constitutional.
   Schools have the right to drug test their students because the level of privacy intrusion is so small compared to the high nature of government interest. School officials must make sure that their students are safe, and testing for drug use will help to prevent students from using drugs. Although drug testing may limit some rights, including the Fourth Amendment, it is still necessary in order to guarentee safety among the school.